


only place worth being

by Dovey



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Soft Sasuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 10:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20619671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dovey/pseuds/Dovey
Summary: Sakura becomes an endentured servant at an establishment that attracts missing nin like flies to honey and proves very good at improving as a shinobi, even when her work isn't aimed towards that. Sasuke, meanwhile, has a soft spot for his genin teammate, even if it takes him a little while to realize it.





	only place worth being

Soon after Sasuke leaves the village, sakura's father's debts catch up to the family- and he puts forth Sakura to pay them.

if she was a clan shinobi this wouldn't happen- both because the clan would cover a majority of the debt cost, and because clan children are considered adults as soon as they become shinobi; but as a civilian child she's considered property of her parents, essentially, until she comes of age for civilians (16 to 21, depending on the village), and so it's perfectly within her parent's rights to forcibly resign her from service to 'maintain duties to her clan'. It was yet another reason civilian shinobi tend to be ignored in training- it's too risky civilian parents will put them in training just to have a slightly more knowledgeable heir to lead their business. 

She didn't even have time to beg Tsunade-sama for an apprenticeship before she was taken from Konoha and officially removed as a shinobi. 

her dad's debts had been sold along, until it had ended up in the hands of an establishment in neutral territory that caters to shinobi and high level political figures; discreet, safe, and with an extensive history of being the brokering location of many a treaty, arranged marriages- and a few wars, true.

it doesn't  _ need  _ to be her- they have just as much need for strong men to carry about menial chores, do heavy lifting or door opening or a million other tasks a large place like that requires. but her father is selfish, and her mother is too, and so it falls to Sakura, and eventually she'll be angry enough to want to flee, but at the time she's so depressed after so many failures she doesn't see the point in fighting

she's basically a waitress, when she arrives, but held to a very high standard. waitresses are expected to be able to sense ill intent between guests, prevent subterfuge, help broker peace; as well as sufficiently performing all duties a server has to do regardless, like pouring tea and serving food.

She's taught some useful things- how to read people, how to find poisons in foods, how to use her chakra to subtly calm people down. It's more than she learned with kakashi, but that's not saying much.

she's allowed to practice her ninjutsus because it could always come in handy for the business, and with no friends or family that's all she really ever does when she has free time, and she starts to get clever about combining techniques or extrapolating them into more complicated original jutsus, because she's bored and clever and her mind is bound to wonder when she spends most of her day pouring tea.

she grows angrier and angrier with konoha as time goes on, for a lot of reasons. Some of it has poorly she was treated as a student. Some of it is from how little they fought to keep her after she agreed to die for the village, if need be. A lot of it is how Naruto and Kakashi haven't come to find her, speeches about teamwork and friendship and togetherness only reserved for each other, apparently.

She wants to leave, though she has no idea where she'd go-- she doesn't realize yet, how good her skill level is, still viewing herself as the incompetent weakling she was seen as a child, so she has no reason to believe any village would choose to have her- and beyond that, the security for the place she serves is obviously very good.

she's been considering using poison to get out- they taught her how to spot it, which she extrapolated into how to hide it even better, and eventually how to make it- but that seems risky, the sort of thing that would earn her retribution.

she's about sixteen or so when something she'd never even considered happens, because despite serving a few missing nin in the past, she never considered just how ideal her workplace was as a meeting site for a missing nin with spies; Orochimaru arrives, apprentice in tow, grumbling the whole while.

She sort of wants to laugh, more than anything, because it's not intentional but sasuke IS the first member of team seven to 'find' her, and isn't that funny? after all that yelling, it's the one who left who came back to her, even if it's by mistake and it's not like he'll help her out. she doubts he'll even notice her.

Orochimaru sits at her designated table for the day- she's one of the most talented waitresses/hostesses, and thus chosen by the high fliers and high payers most often- and Kabuto-san from the exams soon arrives to slide in place across from him. A few years ago she'd have been shocked, but Kabuto is not so good a spy as he was a good 'nobody'- as soon as you paid attention to him, you could spot ill intent. And besides, she'd seen much more surprising Konoha nins arrive for clandestine meetings with opposing villages or wealthy payoffs on mission failures.

Sasuke sits, still grumbling, besides Orochimaru, which clearly upsets Kabuto; Sakura can see it in the tilt of his eyes and stiffness of his back. Somebody's jealous, she thinks, amused, before schooling her face to come to the table and begin the endless ceremonial side of things and try to prevent an explosion between the two young men. Her job is her job, after all, and she doesn't much like to think about the consequences she receives when she fails. (Her workplace is built on a foundation of reputation. Harming it's reputation is.....bad. For all involved.)

She can see they've all properly cleaned themselves, even Sasuke, and supposes it would take more than a life on the run and a vendetta against a shinobi god to remove all of the Uchiha good-breeding, and so she skips the suggestion of the purifying water and instead begins to pour the tea. She starts with Orochimaru, which is obvious; but the choice between Sasuke and Kabuto being served first is too fraught to attempt, and so she carefully pours two cups at once and serves at the same time. (despite the history of the practice, most shinobi do not partake in the shared cup, viewing the sharing of the tea kettle itself more than enough leniency towards trust.)

"I would suggest you present yourselves in a fitting manner." She says, flickering eyes to the door before holding up a hand in the motion of the first sign to begin the academy jutsu for false appearances; Konoha nin of a lower rank would be arriving in a half hour or so to try and set up a scheme with a nearby town's seedy underbelly's leader, and she wouldn't doubt that they would try and earn some extra funds by reporting on a sighting of Sasuke at the least to the Hokage.

She is so fixated on the greatest threat here- Orochimaru, who the sight of still reminds her of the sensation of being knocked full force into a tree, gasping for breath and feeling certain of her death more than her next inhale- that she doesn't see Sasuke finally look up from his lap, eyes widening ever so slightly before he quickly looks away.

"No point when we're dealing with a Konoha nin already, hm?" Kabuto asks, taunt sharp, and Sakura forces down her stomach flutters to respond rather tersely, "I'm as much a Konoha nin as Sasuke-kun."

She hadn't meant to call him that, but the habit was hard to break. She hadn't said his name in years, after all. "I understand there's little point in following my career path once he left the village, but you should at least know who was resigned from duty, Kabuto-san, if you are as intelligent and informed as rumors claim." Then she smiles at him, blank as she was taught to be, and returns focus to Orochimaru. Dismissive, but not proveably so; the superior here would decide if a fight would be allowed to occur, and she doubted Orochimaru would mind the digs at his less-favored of apprentices. That was growing more obvious by the second, his disinterest in the medic; His tilt was towards Sasuke, his focus slipping towards the boy every so often to check his intentions, and the slightest of smiles that tugged at his lips at her words. He was a vindictive sort, and liked to see it in others; that was beginning to make itself clear to her, too.

Orochimaru turned his full attention on her, and she could not hold back the shudder this time; but she kept her eyes vacant, and her arms steady, so he likely only saw it as the proper response prey should give when attracting the focus of a predator. "I'm afraid I am unable to take part myself, if you wouldn't mind." He informed her, and a slight shrug of his shoulder showed the beginnings of a blackening rot to his arms. Ah, perhaps this was the source of his distaste for Kabuto- the use of a medic that cannot fix a shinobi's arms is very little, after all.

He is presumably asking her to continue the ceremony with an exception for his role, but she's not about to risk the insult that would carry to his title, and so she replies instead, "Allow me", and lifts the cup to his lips. His tongue is long and slim and terrifying, and his eyes have a film to them that she soon realizes is an extra set of eyelids, clear enough to see through without the need to fully blink.  _ Hm. _ she'll have nightmares about this for a very long time, she's sure, but the moment passes and she proceeds to recede into the background and allow the discussion to continue.

It proves to be a very informative session of trade between Kabuto and Orochimaru; Sasuke is made to sit diligently in his spot, glancing around in a manner more undignified that Sakura is used to by him or others who most often chose her pricey table. It would be rude to interrupt the other guests conversation, but she's obligated to entertain, and so she discreetly places her hands on the table and begins the third variation of Konoha sign to engage him in conversation.

_ Are you well? _ she asks, a practical starting question that she belatedly realizes might be misread given his current circumstances. He ignores her, and she withdraws her hands, feeling relieved that she did her part but did not have to communicate further with a boy placed so solidly in her past until today. After a few minutes of dragging silence, besides the murmurs she is doing her best to ignore, his hands lift up for a more blatant response. well, response of sorts- he pointedly ignores her question, after all, instead responding,

_ Where are they? _

Ah. of course. Team seven is team seven, after all, and she has never been a part of it. Unfortunately, she can be of no help there.  _ Kakashi- east, maybe? _ she signs, careful to show her hesitance in confirming what might not be a truth. To be honest, she isn't supposed to share anything that she's picked up from overheard conversations or passing rumors, but she's always had a soft spot for Sasuke-kun- a soft spot that no longer extends to her other former teammates.  _ Naruto, no idea. _

His expression is troubled.  _ Alone? _ He asks, and Sakura suddenly remembers he was never as applied in class lessons that had to do with communication. It was his greatest flaw, Iruka had often said, a truth that had grown more apparent later on. She tries to stick to the simpler signs, then, for his sake, but doesn't fully understand his question.

_ He has teacher? _ she suggests, uncertain if Jiraiya was still training him but found it unlikely the man could ditch a tail like Naruto, who could cling like a burr to anyone for as long as he pleased.

Sasuke shakes his head.  _ You. _

Oh. Well, that was an unexpected question. She felt the urge, at first, to reassure otherwise- she wasn't allowed to talk much with the other waitresses, incase they might start to plan something, nor the guards in case of a tempestuous love affair occuring, but she managed small nudges and checks with them to keep a sense of community. But she realizes that is likely not what he means. _ Yes _ . She says.  _ Since you left. _ She adds, because it feels important to be clear.

he doesn't understand- the signs are too complicated. She tries again. _ you....leave. wait little. then _ \- she pauses, not wanting to make it sound like she abandoned the village as he had. It was the other way around, for her, and it stung too strong to claim otherwise. _ was taken _ . she finishes, with a shrug.

His expression turns darker, and his hands fall down. She hopes he doesn't think she was taken from that bench, the night he left; it put far more on him than it did the village, and she knew who she blamed for her situation.

"I'm glad you had the chance to catch up. Sasuke-kun has been so reluctant to make new friends!" Orochimaru says, and while Sasuke flinches, Sakura had grown used to keeping her attention divided and noticed exactly when the man had begun to switch his focus to their conversation instead of his own. She smiles at him, doll like, and serenely replies, "Oh, I'm sure he'll grow more comfortable, sir."

"I'm sure he will." Orochimaru says, rather redundantly, and Sasuke does not look back when they leave. (Sakura is furious at herself for watching.)

She expects that to be the last of Sasuke-kun, though not the last of Kabuto or Orochimaru, since her workplace was useful for spymasters and recruiters alike, but she's surprised to discover he returns alone soon after and uses her table again, this time to meet with a medic girl named Karin who's been stationed, apparently, in an Oto base beyond his usual reach.

She likes Karin- the woman is noisy and rude and has terrible manners, in a way that seems entirely on purpose. She double checks for poison despite it being part of Sakura's job description, and slips Sakura at least half the riceballs to eat herself under the guise of making sure none of them are poisoned.

They talk largely about the mechanics of the growing Oro expansion attempts, the acquiring of new bloodlines and the risks associated with those acquisitions; Sakura dutifully serves, does what she can to keep them from spatting when their personalities clash too harshly, and tries to not stare too intensely at Sasuke-kun while trying to figure out why he's returned, in particular to her table as opposed to any other.

She catches them signing something, but it's an Oto dialogue, and she can only be ruefully relieved that Sasuke is getting better at communication in some dialect at least.

At the end of the meal, Karin winks, demands a kiss, and flushes when Sakura tells her they charge extra for that. Sasuke flushes too, and she finds that funny. (they aren't that sort of establishment, despite the rumors that sometimes sprout up around a particularly pretty waitress- it's too risky, too easy for feelings to get confused, for everyone except the professionals. They have a recommendation service instead, for discreet workers in various cities, but Sakura has a feeling that neither of them are actually intending to put those sorts of lists to use.)

The next time Sasuke-kun arrives, he's filthy, bloody, and exhausted. He is missing one shoe and his sword will turn rusty from wet blood if it isn't properly cleaned immediately, and so when he sits at her table she immediately leads him to a service area to begin her work. It's unbecoming to show up to her workplace in a state like he has, but not uncommon; it's then a task for a waitress or host to set them to rights- another reason sakura was allowed to maintain her practices.

She cleans the sword and sharpens it under his watchful eye, gives him replacement robes that are visibly inspected for poisons or jutsus, and washes by hand his filthy clothes while he sits across from her, sipping slowly on a cooling tea cup of his least favorite type. (she is cross, a little, at being set upon with the menial tasks, regardless of how often she does them. She's not his little wife, and as nice as it is to hold a proper blade again, the thrill is removed with the motherly duty of carefully ringing out his clothes and scrubbing with force on the stains. She's only relieved- for her sake and his own- that he does not make her wash his feet, as is offered along with the other services she's already provided. She would not hesitate to leave them too sore to walk on, consequences be damned, and heat the water to the point of boiling. she's gotten good at jutsu for protecting her hands from the hottest of waters, after all.)

"Are you well?" he asks, and she nearly sputters at the question because it's one she's never heard from Sasuke before. It's also likely the dumbest thing she's ever heard him say, and she gives him her blankest, dullest look, and replies, "Of course, sir, I'm extremely well taken care of in health and training."

His ears tip red and he looks away. Good. unintentionally cruel questions will still get cruel answers.

"Why did you-" he begins, and then pauses to think, for once, before finishing far differently then she would guess he began, "Decide...to work here?"

Well. she'll give him points for trying. "My parents thought it would be beneficial to my education, and Konoha readily agreed."

"Your family?" He prompts. She does not look up from the wash, heating the water hotter and hotter with the chakra boiling in her veins because it would be unsafe to leave that level of anger circulating. It might make her cry, and red eyes are unacceptable in a waitress.

Steam billows from the water, and Sasuke lifts her hands out, hissing at the splash of water on his own skin. It blisters, faintly, and he stares at her hands- still soft, not even beginning to turn red. "You're not hurt." He says, confused.

"It's useful not to be." Sakura responds, before scooping up some of the water and pouring it over his hand. She surprised he doesn't pull his hand away with the expectation of pain, but he leaves it there; and as she'd cooled the water quickly to a chill as she scooped, another trick she'd picked up easily when she'd first been assigned laundry duty, the icy water helped ease the burn of the blister. "I'm very good at being useful, lately." She adds.

She finishes his clothes and sets them out to dry- she hasn't yet figured out a good way to cool them quickly, but has some ideas on the matter she intends to test eventually and returns to find Sasuke gone. She hopes he at least remembered to pay at the front desk; they don't take well to debtors, after all, nuke-nin or not.

the next time she sees him, her workplace is on fire. The flames are black, and her attempts at her heat prevention jutsu are only half effective as they usually are, which is a bit insulting considering how hard she worked on them. She suspects it has something to do with the men who arrived in red cloaks and made a few too many requests of their particular host. There'd been some yelling, screaming, really, and the flash of lightning more than once; Sakura was relieved to have been out in the back, taking care of laundry and some training, as opposed to in the main dining area, seeing as that was completely aflame by now.

Then Sasuke is there- in the same style of clothes as he'd left behind, before, and she wonders just how many sets of it Orochimaru had made- and he tells her "Itachi." Like that means anything to her, and then she's being scooped up in a very undignified manner- under his shoulder, really, like the boy has hit any kind of growth spurt to justify that when she's still three inches taller than him at the least- and he's darting away with her over the rooftops and flames and considering her issues with the black flames, which Sasuke seems to not have (Unfair, she thinks, as the flames seem to bend out of the way of his feet for the brief touches as he lands between tiles) she decides to let him. It's definitely a decision, and not a moment of absolute panic, she would argue.

She expects him to drop her a little outside the flames and then either head back in to fight the fire starter- if it wasn't Sasuke himself, that is- or go ahead to Oto and consider it his good deed of the year, or something, but instead he keeps going. It's particularly embarrassing when he carries her through the field to the nearest forest; far less impressive to be carried like a sack of potatoes by a boy who’s just running, as opposed to dramatic leaps; but when they reach the trees and travel far enough that heat no longer burns at their backs- or, rather, Sasuke's back and Sakura's face, seeing as he's got her facing in the most unamusing direction (and she'll pretend it's a tactical decision he's made, to have her watch his back for him, as opposed to a lack of care for which end is where) she finally tugs at his sleeve.

"Sasuke-kun." She says, and he grunts but keeps moving.

"Sasuke-kun. You can set me down now."

He doesn't. The next leap is a little wobbly. He's got to be off balance, carrying her like this, and tired after the distance they've covered, prodigy or no. She tugs sharper on his sleeve. "SASUKE-KUN."

He drops her, and then looks shocked, before diving after her- and nearly missing the branch she lands on herself. "Sasuke. You do remember I was a leaf ninja too, right?" She reprimands, and he colors red. She feels like she's getting good at making him do that.

"Yes." He mutters, a lie. She lets him.

(She hopes he hasn't noticed that she's wearing the pants he left behind; it's a matter of practicality, for her to wear them in her chore times, not sentimentality, and who is she kidding, of course he's already noticed, they were waving around in his face for the past three hours. Damn Uchiha.) (God, but she had missed pants. She'll never wear another yukata again, if she can help it.)

"Well?" She suggests, and he tilts his head towards her. He's sitting on the branch, looking out of breath- she thinks perhaps the fight from earlier had involved him, which says even more impressive things about his stamina as a shinobi. "Which direction are we headed?" She prompts.

"Ah." He replies, glances around. "West." He tells her, and he moves to stand up. She takes advantage of his slow rise to scoop him up herself- in a bridal carry, since she's much nicer than he is to other people's dignity- and smiles brightly at him. "Well!" She tells him, cheerfully. "West it is!"

And with that she darts off into the woods, a little wobbly from lack of practice but not from lack of strength, and a joyful skip to her leaps that has both their hearts soaring as they go.

**Author's Note:**

> i told y'all i had more soft sasu/saku content and i DELIVERED. please just assume that they go on to form a rogue squad with karin that does a sort of "avatar season 1" strategy- traveling around looking for new teachers, having fun adventures, avoiding capture by simply having no set course to follow. sasuke and sakura get MARRIED in some hick town during one such random adventure (marriage is the only way to get out of x scenario, sitcom style) and karin and ino end up dating bc ino keeps chasing after sakura and running into karin instead by mistake and its GOOD.   
kakashi and naruto still haven't found out that sakura isnt in konoha. tsk tsk. 
> 
> title comes from the song "cold cold man" by saint motel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBAExYOYA3k) because i SUPER struggled with a title so i went with one from my general soft-sasusaku playlist. the lyrics are good for canon sasuke towards sakura, i think! "Oh, my love, I know I am a cold man quite slow to pay you compliments or public displayed affections; but baby, don't you go over analyze,  
no need to theorize, I can put your doubts to rest: You're the only one worth seeing, the only place worth being, the only bed worth sleeping's the one right next to you" :) 
> 
> in other news, im working on creating a zine with a good friend that'll be all soft sasusaku content- basically its genin or younger aus/fics/art only, so nothing super angsty or sad, just cute funny childhood crush content!! if that interests you at all, either to read or to contribute too, leave a comment and i'll send the link to a discord for it <3


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